Ralph Lauren weighs expansion options in High Point

As Ralph Lauren considers investing $142 million to create 500 jobs in High Point, each of the clothing retailer’s three distribution centers in the city is being considered for expansion.

The most likely site to see new construction is Ralph Lauren’s North Pendleton Street distribution center in Kivett Drive Industrial Park, where the park’s developer, Carolina Investment Properties, is clearing the way for a 420,000-square-foot industrial building.

Loren Hill, president of the High Point Economic Development Corp., declined to comment on Ralph Lauren’s specific plans for expansion, which would be made possible in part by up to $3.2 million in incentives High Point and Guilford County are considering for the company in public hearings this week and next. Company officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But Hill did say that he expects the expansion, if High Point is selected, to involve more than the Pendleton Street site.

If that’s the case, Ralph Lauren could look at the pad just north of its 343,000-square-foot distribution center on Eagle Hill Drive that opened last year. Earlier marketing materials for the site show the capability for it to expand by about 130,000 square feet.

Like the Pendleton Street site, such an expansion would likely be funded by the property owner, which on Eagle Hill Drive is Universal Furniture International Inc., and then leased back to the company. Tom Townes with Triad Commercial Properties, which represents Universal Furniture, declined to comment on the possibility of expansion at the site.

Another scenario would be for Ralph Lauren to expand the 756,500-square-foot facility it owns on Beechwood Drive in north High Point’s Piedmont Centre corporate park, given that the company owns a neighboring 5.9-acre parcel to the east that borders Tarrant Road. Such an expansion would require the company itself to make the capital investment, rather than negotiating a lease-back arrangement, since Ralph Lauren owns the property.

Sources in the Triad real estate and construction industries believe the Kivett Drive Industrial Park expansion is the most likely to happen, and thanks to a rezoning last month, that property is now ready to accommodate a Ralph Lauren expansion. At the request of Carolina Investment Properties, the city in mid-April rezoned as light industrial the 4.4 acres neighboring Ralph Lauren’s 330,000-square-foot distribution center at 201 N. Pendleton St., which primarily serves phone and Internet customers.

A traffic report submitted with the rezoning request notes that Carolina Investment Properties is planning a 420,000-square-foot industrial building with a new access point off of nearby Cedrow Drive.

Robin Team, president of Carolina Investment Properties, said he could neither confirm nor deny that his company was working with Ralph Lauren to expand the North Pendleton Street site.

High Point is apparently competing with another location outside the state to land the Ralph Lauren expansion. Hill said the competing location is also home to Ralph Lauren facilities, but declined to say more.

According to SEC filings, the Triad is by far the central distribution center for the clothing retailer’s network. A list of key properties included in SEC filings includes more than 2.2 million square feet of space in High Point, with no other domestic distribution facilities listed.